Giro d'Italia 2014: Dan Martin suffers heartbreak as crash ends his race on the first stage in Belfast

Irishman who was targeting a podium place damages his collarbone in the team
trial

There was heartbreak for Dan Martin, considered a contender for a podium place in this year’s Giro d’Italia, after the Irishman crashed out of the race in the very first stage, the team trial in Belfast.

Martin, one of only three Irishmen in this year’s Giro, will not even get to ride through his home country in the third stage from Armagh to Dublin after the race ended soon after it begun for the Garmin-Sharp rider.

The nephew of former Giro winner Stephen Roche, Martin was one of four members of his team who fell midway through the 21.7km time trial. But while the other three got back up and continued, the 27 year-old stayed sitting on the road, nursing his collarbone. Doctors at a local hospital diagnosed the injury as a broken clavicle.

It was a painfully premature end to the race for a rider who began with hopes to win the general classification and has suffered bad luck in recent weeks. He crashed in the final left-hand corner of the Liège–Bastogne–Liège classic at the end of last month while second.

Charly Wegelius, Garmin's director sportif, said: "Today was a tough day and means a change in strategy for the team. We came in with two leaders, Dan and Ryder [Hesjedal]. We still have a strong team and we have Ryder. It’s heartbreak for Dan, we all know how much this meant to him, but that gives us motivation. We’ll keep fighting forward.

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"These guys are not just teammates, they are good friends and we’ll all use this as motivation for the next three weeks to shake up the race and create opportunities for ourselves. For the team to wait for Dan, for the whole team - and the injured who were able to do so - to pick themselves up and press on shows true courage and character and that’s what we will continue to do here."

Orica-GreenEdge set the fastest time of the day as favourites, with Canada's Svein Tuft taking the race leader's pink jersey as the first man over the line on his 37th birthday.

The Australian Omega Pharma-Quick-Step by five seconds, with BMC Racing just two seconds further back, an excellent result for Cadel Evans who has high hopes of challenging for overall victory. Team Sky were 35 seconds off the pace in fifth place.

On Saturday, the near 200-strong peloton tackles a 218km stage that starts and finishes in Belfast, before a 187km run from Armagh down to Dublin on Sunday. There is then a rest day before the race heads down to the south-east coast of Italy.